It's getting harder and harder to defend RL as a good sport.

Yep, some people are showing their Sun-reader tendencies here because it's a foreign team. Catalans have not been canceling games and have been back and to all year to keep the competition going.

I don't like this cancellation at all, but Saints allowed themselves a good few weeks off after the cup final so don't blame Catalans for testing the water.

the season was no longer credible about 4/5 weeks ago and its certainly not improved this season.

Absolute Farce. The rules should be if you cant field a team you forfeit the game 24-0 no matter what. Those are the rules, tough $hi7. there are teams like ourselves that have been ready to go only to be let down by the opposition and therefore we're missing out on the completed game threshold through no fault of our own. how on earth is that a system that makes even the slightest bit of sense?

We now have teams abusing the system thanks to p*$$ poor management from the RFL & SL.

What does "four essential staff members" even mean? They're not even trying to make it sound credible and they're getting away with it along with other teams.

Whatever the rights and wrongs are of Catalan (or any) team postponing games, I am finding myself, a normally very passionate RL fan, just not being as engaged with the sport right now. I hate to think what fans who have a passing interest and only watch a few games a year think. The credibility of the sport is getting damaged, it's an incredibly difficult situation to be working in I'm sure, and I'm sure Football, RU & cricket teams can afford to work with larger squads than RL teams, but it doesn't alter the fact we are actively losing fan engagement due to the recent goings on.

I don't know if the rules around contacts have changed in Super League now to follow government advice, or if contacts still have to isolate, I think there needs to be a message of sorts sent out from the SL board on how they see this playing out and maybe something from Karl Fitzpatrick on how its managed currently.

I'm not sure I buy in to the conspiracy theories of clubs deliberately stretching the COVID rules to get games postponed, the biggest threat top clubs face right now isn't where they finish in the league, it's the financial impact of the games not being played, how much do we think this postponement will have cost Warrington?

Joke by Catalan to leave it this late, but we are just as bad, The government clearly gave english super league too much money, none can be bothered playing anymore and losing out on the gate receipts.

Joke sport too stuck in its ways to have any chance of survival in the modern sports climate.

Sorry, but if I was SKY or a sponsor of RL I'd be walking away now and investing elsewhere.

The administration of the sport is a disgrace, the self-interest of the clubs is astonishing and frankly, the product really isn't too hot anymore.

What a well informed and thought out post.

It’s taking the p when Cats fielded a load of kids against Stains a few weeks ago so why not tonight and like others have said every other sport going along nicely except rugby league.Something is seriously wrong.

They're (the frogs) making an absolute joke of what is already looking more and more like a mickey mouse game. Will anyone hold them to account? Or just stay quiet because they, for some odd reason, like seeing them succeed despite tiny crowds.

The entire thing is pathetic, I'm very nearly done with it all. Taking the absolute mick.

I honestly don't know whether this post is tongue in cheek.

Incidentally did you catch the result of any of these fixtures last weekend?

Crawley Town V Harrogate (L2)
Darlington v Telford (NLN)
Leamington v Gateshead (NLN)

Hang on, those are lower league football. Surely we should be comparing ourselves against the top echelons of sports, such as the Japanese Grand Prix (cancelled) and Malaysian Grand Prix in MotoGP (cancelled).

Only in RL eh?

That's two posts you've attacked, do we not align with your view of it all by any chance? What about my post is joke worthy?

The racist bit for a start? And yes it is racist before you ask.

Not sure what point you're making, but it does make you wonder how players in lower football leagues can work all week, socialise, commute and still host games whereas we seem totally unable to even ensure televised matches go ahead.

Is the Leeds hudds game on sky...or iTs Emmerdale and EastEnders..

Alright folks keep it civil and non racist(or xenophobic before ppl start nit picking)

Four teams are already up to the 18 threshold & we need two more games to be played . Out of our last 5 games none are easy ,Saints home ,Wigan at magic ,Huddersfield away, Salford home & Cas away., & if any more teams cry off from the HJ then we could even have already played our last home game until we begin our march to the GF.

The point I'm making is that there are sporting events being postponed across a number of sports. It is annoying that it is happening in RL, but we are usually proud of the fact that our players are down to earth people who are part of the community they represent. Just seen that there have been 36,000 Covid cases today, so if it is happening to normal folk it will be still be happening to RL players, regardless of the fact we are all fed up of hearing about Covid.

Incidentall they're definitely not working all week in League 2, and there'll be some players on a decent wedge as low down as the National League.

Yes very odd, they were happy to play us last week with a covid depleted squad and them being at full strength, but they dont fancy a Strong warrington line up, this getting silly now

I've not seen many games in the championship or league 1 falling foul of covid. Its bloody unlucky that it seems to be mostly players(or essential staff!)from super league clubs that catch it.

Rl fans forum has gone woke.

All these other sports haven’t had anywhere near the same level of disruption as what rugby league have had though.

The Government guidance has recently changed, therefore Catalans and rugby league should be adhering to them like everyone else is supposed to.

Super League and those making the decisions have made it far too easy from the off for teams to not fulfil their fixtures and in many ways it’s better for them to not play than to play and lose given the ridiculous format that’s in place.

They’ve made a rod for their own back and for the sake of the game and it’s future they need to clear it up and get rid of these protocols and loopholes in order to give teams every incentive to fulfil their fixtures as this just isn’t sustainable for all concerned.

It’s beyond me how anyone can even consider how Magic Weekend is a good idea given the fact we’ve probably only had one full weekend of fixtures in almost three months. Add to that all the unfulfilled fixtures and the lopsided look to the fixtures, it makes it an even bigger farce how it’s going ahead in its current form and that fixtures aren’t being tweaked at the very least.

who do they play next week

As I've always called it TRAGIC WEEKEND

Salford then Leigh they'll be ok for those 2